1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toy water gun system with a separate pressurized receptacle and more specifically to a pressurized receptacle that is charged by a municipal water supply.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Water guns are very popular as a child's toy and have been for some time. There are many different styles of water guns that have been developed to profit from the toy's popularity. The most popular forms of water guns are activated by pumping action manually through the trigger, however, this type of toy is limited in the distance the water travels and the duration of the pumping action. Another type of water gun utilizes the difference in pressure from the water in the gun and the pressure of the ambient air. Since the water in the gun is higher than the ambient air, when the water in the gun is given an avenue of escape, the water will stream out under pressure.
An example of this type of gun is given by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,854,480, 4,735,239, and 4,257,460. All of these patents show water guns that use an elastic bladder to pressurize the water. The bladders are filled with water and the bladders respond by elastically deforming. The water under pressure by the deforming bladder is released through the gun by a trigger mechanism through a small orifice which provides a stream. Another type of pressure activated water gun uses air pressure to force water through a small orifice. This type is reflected by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,674 and 5,074,437. These guns use a pumping device that pumps air into an enclosed reservoir with the air pressure pushing down on the water. One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,437 to D'Andrade et al has enjoyed commercial success and is know in the toy stores as the "Super Soaker". The structure in U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,437 is not designed to withstand a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch (psi) as in the present invention. All of the present toy guns use either water pressure to elastically deform a bladder or air pressure pushing the water out since the air pressure inside the reservoir is greater than ambient air. What is needed is a device that uses water from a source of pressurized water to charge a receptacle that contains trapped air. One way of introducing a source of pressurized water is by using the pressure from a public utility system like a municipal water supply. The air inside the receptacle is compressible while the water is incompressible. There are no known water pistol systems that use pressurized water from a source like a municipal water supply to charge the toy water gun system.